SFI Website

An app wireframe design based on the existing publication Japanese Pottery Handbook, edited by Simpson, Penny, Kanji Sodeoka, and Lucy Kitto. It is an introductory manual to Japanese pottery that aims to create awareness and deeper appreciation within the US community.

sfi website

the challenge

Created in 2006 as a public–private partnership, the institute is a common initiative of the country's finance industry, leading universities, and the Confederation. It acts as a major host for financial research, education, as well as events.

Despite its major role in the finance industry, the institute's website situation was generally lacking due to the absence of user-friendly design and updates. There were very limited customer acquisition and direct editing tools, and it was not mobile compatible. The client had little control over content entry and updates, and the users could not locate the page, nor resources they needed without a search or filter function.

my role

Working with a group of programmers and other designers, we split tasks based on pages. My objective was to design the desktop interfaces for the Home Page and the Knowledge Portal, and at the same time, construct a distinct mobile device interface specifically for the Knowledge Portal.

our approach

The update was especially essential with the added feature, the Knowledge Portal, since there were heavy constraints that prohibited people from sharing information.

We began with drafting website structures referencing existing contents and organization, and creating sitemaps for client review. We then developed a detailed schedule of how we would plan to work with the client as means of time management as a team .

Below are some early wireframes and mockups to show the clients what we were envisioning for the Home Page. We spent roughly a week to develop the wireframes suitable for the client according to their tech specs and feedback, then another month to design all key pages.

knowledge portal

Our market research suggested that most people are not aware that SFI also serves as an education and research institution. So halfway into the designing process, we opted to create a unique platform called the Knowledge Portal to allow more effective sharing and free access to research data and information.